Apr 27 at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, TX -- RED, with Seether and Flyleaf
Anybody who’s banged their head to their debut LP End of Silence knows how RED rolls: the ambitious young Nashville quintet’s creative blend of industrial, classical and hard rock offers a beacon of hope for an ever-growing army of fans.
Silence has sold nearly 200,000 copies, the band has already scored their first Grammy nomination and they’ve amassed an enormous, intense MySpace following - none of which means they’ll be resting on their laurels anytime soon.
RED will spend 2008 attacking concert halls to the tune of over 250 shows, joining forces with hard-hitters like Flyleaf, Three Days Grace and Sevendust. Although their no-holds-barred live show has yielded numerous injuries—guitarist Anthony Armstrong has a bad habit of accidentally tomahawking Barnes—the guys simply shake them off and forge ahead, delivering their message of overcoming adversity, no matter the cost.
“There are things that people are struggling with that they have the power to overcome,” says Barnes. “Halfway through ‘Let Go,’ there’s the lyric, ‘You can’t have me anymore, you can’t have me anymore, let go.’ A girl on MySpace said she was dealing with bulimia and just hearing that song really helped her. It can’t consume her anymore; it can’t have her anymore. It was really empowering.”
The members of RED wear their close relationship with and understanding of their audience as a badge of honor and see it as the first stage of their success.
“To be able to do what we do on a daily basis and share our music with people everywhere,” says Rauch “that is success for sure!”
Scenarios like the one with the afore-mentioned fan on MySpace speak to the heart of the band – their empathy, humility and warmth as individuals serves as the counterpoint to the heavy music that comes from their creative process as a group.
The band gelled when Barnes drafted boyhood pals/identical twin brothers Randy and Anthony Armstrong—respectively, bass and guitar—to leave western Pennsylvania in search of like-minded musicians in Nashville. They forged fast friendships with recording studio worker and guitarist Jasen Rauch as well as drummer Hayden Lamb, and spent over a year and a half applying their diverse influences to create End of Silence.
Although Silence shudders with skyline-toppling distortion (“Let Go,” “Wasting Time”), it also exhales at just the right moments, offering somber reflections (“Already Over,” “Pieces”) that reflect the fragility of Barnes’ lyrics.
“The one thing we hope people see in our music is dynamics,” Rauch says. “We can have a stripped-down ballad, we can have a really heavy song, but first and foremost we do consider ourselves a rock band. When we play, some people tell us that we’re heavier live than we are on the record. For us, something soft makes the heavy part after it even heavier.”
The band is constantly striving for balance. “Already Over,” for example, was so bleak that they finally agreed to close the record with a more optimistic reprise to even the scales. That’s RED in a nutshell—guiding you through the darkest depths, but ultimately showing you the way out. And their devoted followers are happily strapped in for future turbulence, on CD or in the pit.
Michael Barnes -Vocals, Piano
Anthony Armstrong -Guitar
Randy Armstrong -Bass, BGV's, Piano
Jasen Rauch -Guitar
Hayden Lamb -Drums